Hi friends,

Now that it’s a full month into the year, I may finally be settling into 2022. I moseyed my way through these weeks, with a bit of mental housekeeping. I slowly called into question the goals I had set for 2021, the routines I’d settled into, and the motivations behind all of these things. My morning routine, for example, has become a tour of activities through different parts of the apartment that takes over two hours, so a bit of Marie Kondo “Does this bring me joy?” housekeeping was in order🧹. Put in other words, I looked for the default “shoulds” that had weaseled their way into the previously joyful parts of my day. I took a cue from a fellow independent artist who told me that she was giving herself the gift of January to feel things out and be slow.

Meanwhile, in art land, I’ve been back to creating. I was inspired to make a bobblehead tiger to celebrate the new year, especially since it’s my zodiac year. I also started a personal project! I now have a goal of organizing a shoot around it later this spring (hint: CAKES). I’m trying to follow through on these whims and ideas this year—something I landed on from some of that mental housekeeping I mentioned above. It’s worth mentioning that all of this personal project making has been a work in progress: it took me over two years since starting my art business to do a single non-client project. The 36 Days of Type project was my first one! It's taken time, scheduled play, and permission to get here.

Next month I have a few fun animations to share with you, so perhaps a process walk-through is up next!

To moseying,
Reina

A few extras

• Annika Hansteen-Izora’s newsletter on gentleness in the new year was my cozy blanket transition to 2022.

• Brené Brown’s interview with James Clear had me thinking about identity-based habits, and these interviews were helpful for a light mulling over at the end of last year. A warning: there’s a lot of detail about Clear’s high school injury in the beginning that I found uncomfortable to listen to. The episode holds up even if you skip this.

• The traditional Japanese craft of hariko, which inspired my New Years tiger. I'm especially enamored by the Cream Box packaging.